The twenties are generally regarded as a “roaring” decade in US History. Gender, race and nationality were all redefined as was the concept of what it meant to be "American." Arts , sports and entertainment transformed society and shaped an American identity of consumerism and leisure. This weeks’ blog asks that you consider how the US in the 1910’s differed from the US a decade later by responding to the question “Did the roaring twenties mark the emergence of a radically different American culture or were they simply a result of political, economic and social progress?”
Read the introductory passage from the “Clash of Cultures, the 1910’s and 1920’s” homepage.
http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/clash/Introduction/Intro.htm
Then, chose two of the following topics to investigate further:
a) Prohibition (18th Amendment banning the sale and consumption of alcohol)
http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/clash/Prohibition/prohibition-page1.htm
a) Prohibition (18th Amendment banning the sale and consumption of alcohol)
http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/clash/Prohibition/prohibition-page1.htm
b) Immigration restrictions and the Ku Klux Klan
http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/clash/Imm_KKK/anti-immigrationKKK-page1.htm
http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/clash/Imm_KKK/anti-immigrationKKK-page1.htm
c) The “New Woman” and flapper culture
http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/clash/Imm_KKK/anti-immigrationKKK-page1.htm
http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/clash/Imm_KKK/anti-immigrationKKK-page1.htm
d) The Scopes Trial – evolution debate/ religious reform and revival
http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/clash/Scopes/scopes-page1.htm
http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/clash/Scopes/scopes-page1.htm
Summarize the key ideas of the articles and respond to the framing question. Your post should be at least 200 words and include comments on at least one peer’s response.
7 comments:
Ian Murphy
History
Block A
The 1910s and the 1920s are considered to be quite the busy, prosperous moments in American society and history as they changed what it meant to be an "American"; however, it may be safe to say that the development in the 1910s resulted in the progress of the 1920s. Behind all the developments that were achieved during these decades, cultures clashed amongst each other quite vigorously, especially between races and genders. Mind you, not all of these clashes were pretty--no they weren't. If I were to pick anything notable that prospered between 1910 and 1929, I would have to pick the Ku Klux Klan, a group of white supremacists that began in the 19th Century, in which its members felt that all white people should dominate the black people simply because of skin pigment. Other than race, there have been clashes between genders as well. In the early 20th Century, women received very little public respect and were unable to participate in many political activities, such as voting. This changed towards the end of the 1910s, as women managed to establish their rights and began to prosper in the subsequent years. If there is anything I have to say about what I've just said, it is that most of the development in these decades occurred in the 1910s; the cultural beliefs established in the 20s were a result of social progress at the time.
Through out the 1910's and the 1920's there were many conflicts. One major conflict was with the Ku Klux Klan and the African Americans. The Klan believes that they were superior. As Ian said they felt that all whites should dominate the black's simply because of skin pigment. They did what they felt was necessary to make America an all white country. The burned down many houses, church and store that were owned by blacks. They also lynched many blacks as well. Another major conflict of the time was religion. As shown in the Scopes trial that took place in Dayton, Tennessee. Parents were upset when the found out that a teacher was teaching their children about evolution. They didn’t want their children to be taught Darwin’s theory of evolution, the majority were Christians and they didn’t believe that man evolved from primates. This case was later turned in to a play called Inherit the Wind. I believe that the "roaring twenties" was a result of social progress. People learned to meet the needs of each other, weather it was women’s rights or Immigration. From the 1910's to the 1920's the American culture experience a period of growth and some understanding , all of which helped model the society we live in today.
Christopher Morawed
The roaring twenties marked the emergence of a radically different American culture. Directly after the war, blacks migrated to the north. The majority of them moved to Detroit, Denver, and Chicago. The populations of the cities have grown significantly. Each one of the cities have grown more than one hundred percent. Due to the increasingly large numbers and new black population growing, white supremacy even began to grow in the north. Lynching from the south was also happening in the north. Blacks were lynched for the most ridiculous reasons. Some reasons include lynching because of attempted biting of a whites’ chin or poisoning a well. Jim Crow laws were also restricting blacks and killing them as well. Along with that, building restrictions were in effect. These restrictions made whites able to refuse selling or renting out white property. The Ku Klux Klan was a so a big factor in the Jim Crow laws and restrictions on housing. The KKK was an organization that acted as vigilantes in the cities. They did what they thought was right and acted upon it. They believed that blacks should not have any rights or live in the same places as the whites so they burned crosses and lynched blacks as well.
LARRY WILLIAMS
U.S HISTORY
A-BLOCK
4/10
1910 and 1920 were very hard times for Afican Americans. They under went many circumstances to get to were they are today. Most of this was led by the blacks migration from the South into the North. Even thought many blacks thought they were home free they still went through the same things that they tried to leave from in the South. In most cases they recieved the same amount of racism and and had to do the same slave jobs for little or nothing."Many Americans blamed the problems caused by rapid modernization on the foreign-born. In addition, political, economic, and social changes led to the rise of the New Woman, the changing face of American's cities, and an increasing role for African Americans". Even thought many opportunities came through for blacks the KKK tried there best to stop it. ThE KKK also known as the Knu Klux Klan was formed in the 1900's and was mainly targeting blacks at this time. These white surperiors controlled america and made sure that no negro would recieve equal power to a white man. Whether going against the KKK or trying to support Women it made no difference because the 1900's gave women and blacks a chance to be equal for once and equal to the white man and thats why many people say that this "clash" was for the good and more importantly for America's development.
The 1920's redefined what it meant to be an American. During the 1910's, America was shifting to industrialism, capitalism, and entrepreneur. Leisure, rather than work, was weaving its way into society. The new woman was a result of social progress, as well as the evolution of culture. Both evolved at the turn of the decade, allowing for other things, besides the "new woman" to come about. The new woman merged her way into society, doing similar things as the man, still with fewer rights, which they continued to fight for. Besides the people of America evolving with the turn of the decade, immigrants were evolving as well. With the industrial changes, more jobs were becoming available, and immigrants were able to find work a little easier. I agree with Chris, where he says that people felt the clash was necessary, and that it brought good changes to American society.
Leticia Lucero
A-Block
Looking back towards the age of the 1920's, one can surely say that American values along with it's culture accumulated due to the influence of political, economic and social progress.
The article "Clash of Cultures in the 1910s and 1920s," states that around the early 1900's the U.S became a stronger industrial and economic nation; which resulted in the waves of immigration entering the U.S.
"...the United States had undergone probably the most dramatic metamorphosis of its short history. It had transformed itself from a fragmented, regional agrarian economy into one of the most powerful industrial and urban economies of the world."
According to the quote from the article the U.S. had gone a drastic and much needed change from the aristocracy of the victorian age, where only a selected few prospered. In other words as economic, political, and social changes occured Victorian traditons and ideals were challenged. The article "Clash of Cultures in the 1910s and 1920s," informs us that the temperance movement was both seen as a political and economic change that contributed to a radically different American culture. The temperance movement was a movement that tried to limit the consumption of alcohal.
"This passage of national Prohibition precipitated a major cultural clash in the 1920s between those who favored Prohibition and those who wished to repeal it." The temperance movement affected the economy, because according to those who wished to see alcohal banned, the consumption of alcohal would render someone useless to work in an industrialized country. Yet others who opposed the movement would respond that the ban of alcohal was an "outdated moralism" that didn't belong in the new ideals of the 1920's.
"The New Women," article solely focuses in the social progress that women of the 1920's achieved, prior to the older generations of women. Women of the 1920's were different than those of pervious generations, because they seeked jobs in the same areas of those of men. "Whereas the lives of most nineteenth-century women - especially middle-class women but also domestic servants and slaves - tended to revolve around home life, modern women ventured into jobs, politics, and culture outside the domestic realm."
Samantha and I seemed to share the same views when we state that Social progress greatly affected the difference of appeal and ideal in women in the 1920's than the women in the 1910's.
Conrad Mallien
4/13/08
A Block
I can see why it might be called the "roaring twenties". Prohibition had eveyone roaring to bring back alchohol. And of course the government did just that seeing as they were only making matters worse. Especially since our law enforcement system was looking bad since they couldn't catch anywhere near half of all the smugglers and such. All in all it probably was one of the worst amendments and the biggest undeniable failures ever, even with its little succes.
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